Thinking about getting MBP

I originally had my eye on either the m1330 or thinkpad t61p but school starts soon an I can't really wait that long. I'm strongly considering buying the 2.2ghz MBP but this would be my first apple purchase and I have a few questions. Some of these might be repeated elsewhere in the forum and I'm sorry if I sound noob.

1. If I dual boot windows, will I be able to access mac files in windows and vice versa? And if I can, what would I have to do in order to do that?

2. Does dual booting slow down the computer any?

3. How is peripherals support in OS X? Would I be able to just plug in any keyboard/mouse/usb drive and expect it to work okay? And (this is gonna sound uber noob) two button mice should work fine right?

4. I know many windows laptops pretty much require a clean install when you first get it. How is the bloatware on OS X? Would a clean install be necessary/recommended?

5. Because of the thin casing and predominantly passive cooling, would getting a cooling stand be recommended? By that I mean, if it sits on a desk, will the airflow be sufficient to prevent any issues?

Thanks!

 

1. First, you are going to want to create your windows partition in ntfs. You can access windows files in os x, but you cannot write to the windows partition from os x. Windows cannot see the mac files at all.

To get full compatibility, you need macdrive for windows (not free, trial available) and macfuse for mac (free). you can read and write to both from both after installing that software.

2. Nope.

3. Yep. os x is a 2 button operating system just like windows. right click is vital.

4. There are 3 trials in os x by default, but they are not preinstalled. One is for iwork 06 (maybe 08 now), one for microsoft office 2004, and one is for comic life (or something like that). Each is in a folder and you can just delete the folder. iLife is installed by default; if you don't want it, you could get rid of it, but its all pretty useful software for content creation.

5. you will be fine without a stand. a stand would reduce heat though, if it becomes a problem for you. intensive work (video editing, gaming, that sort of thing) will generate some heat. nothing that will damage the computer, but it could uncomfortable for you. your choice.

 

1. If you format your Windows partition as FAT32, you can read/write files there from Mac OS. Of you format it as NTFS, you will just be able to have read access. You can use NTFS-3g and a couple of other freeware to gain read/write access though. From windows, you have to use software such as Macdrive to read stuff from Mac partition.

2. If you use Bootcamp, windows runs just like on a normal windows machine with similiar specs. If you use Fusion/Parallels, well yah it is not as fast as native machines but good enough for non-gaming use.

3. You can use pretty much any USB/Firewire KB/Mouse. At most you will lose some special buttons on the kb/mouse if you cant find a compatible MacOS driver.

4. OSX comes with no bloatware. Only trial editions of iWork, MS Office 2004 & Comic strip which dont slow down your system at all and you can get rid of them in a single click. No need for clean install.

5. A lot of ppl do use cooling stands/cooling pads (even i use a Antec notebook cooler). But it is not a must. Newer Santa rosa notebooks dont get as hot as the previous ones.

All in all, MBP is a nice and solid system. Go on and buy it, you wont regret your decision